JP2913773B2 - Printer - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a printer such as a facsimile, a typewriter, and a printer for a computer terminal.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in a printer, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), the recording paper 4 is placed on a platen that is the same as or larger than the recording paper 4, or is entangled with the platen in one direction. Only the paper is moved and printing is performed by the print head 2. In other printing methods such as the electrophotographic method, the line type print belt method, the line type thermal or the ink jet method, the paper is fed only in a fixed direction. 4 is used.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3B, the printer main body 1 on which the print head 2 is mounted is moved by a human hand to realize the printer main body 1 smaller than the recording paper 4.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, as all devices that require a printer are downsized, printers have been required to be downsized so that they can be easily carried. It was difficult to make the size smaller than that. Or, even if the printer can be reduced in size, paper feeding cannot be performed, and it has been difficult to obtain a printer capable of obtaining satisfactory printing results.

On the other hand, when printing on large recording paper such as A1 size or A0 size, a printer body larger than the recording paper is required, and the installation location of the printer body becomes large, making it difficult to reduce the size. Was.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer capable of printing on recording paper of any size without being restricted by the paper size.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention provides a printer main body, a print head fixedly installed at a specific position of the printer main body, a first moving means for moving the recording paper in a row direction, and a print digit direction. Second to move
A paper feeding mechanism that drives one or the other to move the recording paper, a conveyance path for the recording paper that is moved by the paper feeding mechanism, and both sides in the print digit direction. Is opened and connected to the conveyance path, and provided with a guide section for rotating the leading end of the recording paper inserted from the conveyance path by the first moving means substantially one turn, so that the recording paper can be supported in a cylindrical shape. And a special space portion.

[Operation] The printer of the present invention has a paper feed mechanism for independently moving paper in a two-dimensional direction, and moves the recording paper in one of the horizontal direction and the vertical direction in a time-division manner. Is to achieve.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 (a), (b), (c), (d), and (e) are perspective external views for explaining the operation of the printer according to the present invention.
Is a printer main body according to the present invention, 2 is a print head unit fixed in the printer main body, 3 is a paper guide for guiding recording paper, 4 is recording paper, and 5 is a slit-shaped paper provided in the printer main body. It is an insertion slot. Fig. 2
FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of a printer mechanism in a printer main body for carrying out the method of the present invention. A paper feed roller for feeding the inserted recording paper in the direction of the columns, 8 a head platen roller, 9 a thermal transfer ink ribbon for printing with a thermal head,
Reference numeral 10 denotes a thermal head for printing, and reference numeral 11 denotes a photo sensor for detecting the presence or absence of the recording paper 4.

When printing is performed, as shown in FIG. 1A, the recording paper 4 is lightly inserted so that one end of the recording paper 4 is parallel to a slit-shaped paper insertion port 5 provided in the printer body 1. I do. The insertion of the recording paper 4 is detected by the photosensor 11 for paper detection mounted in the printer body. The sensor for paper detection is optional, such as using a mechanical sensor such as a micro switch in addition to the photo sensor. When the insertion of the paper is detected, the recording paper 4 is sandwiched and fixed by the pair of row-wise paper feed rollers 6. When paper is inserted, the pair of rollers in the row direction are separated from each other with a small gap to allow paper to be inserted, or paper insertion is detected. It is optional that they leave after contact or that the rollers of each other remain in contact. After the recording paper 4 is fixed by the paper feed roller 6 in the row direction, as shown in FIG.
The recording paper 4 is fed along the paper guide 3 in the direction toward the main body by the paper feed roller 6 in the row direction. At this time, the paired paper feed rollers 7 in the direction of the beam are separated from each other with a slight gap so that the paper can be fed smoothly. Similarly, the platen roller 8, the print head 10, and the ink ribbon 9 are separated from each other. After that, recording paper 4
Is gradually fed along a paper guide guide 3 inside the main body so as to be wound into a paper guide which is a space for supporting the recording paper in a cylindrical shape by an inner peripheral surface. When the end of the recording paper 4 is detected by the photosensor 11 for paper detection, the paper feeding is stopped in a state as shown in FIG. The setting of the recording paper 4 in the printer body is completed by a series of operations up to this point.

Next, the pair of digit-wise paper feed rollers 7 sandwich the recording paper 4. Thereafter, the paper feed roller 6 in the row direction leaves with a slight gap so that the recording paper 4 can move smoothly in the column direction without resistance. Then, as shown in FIG. 1 (d), the recording paper 4 is fed by a digit direction paper feed roller 7 to the leading position where printing is started. The head position where printing is started is detected by the photosensor 11 for paper detection and stopped at an arbitrary position. Alternatively, it is optional to stop after detection using a plurality of sensors for detecting the edge of the paper.

Next, the recording paper 4 is sandwiched between the platen roller 8, the print head 10, and the ink ribbon 9 to prepare for printing. After the head comes in contact with the sheet, the sheet is fed in the digit direction while printing by driving the sheet feed roller 7 and the platen roller 8 in the digit direction. In printing, a voltage is applied to a thermal type print head 10 having a plurality of heating pairs in the vertical direction, and the ink on the ink ribbon 9 is melted by heat to transfer the ink to paper. Characters and figures are printed as a dot matrix by moving the recording paper and the ink ribbon in parallel with the print head. When the transfer is completed, the ink ribbon is wound up in accordance with the paper feed amount. However, in addition to the direct method using thermal paper and the thermal method using a thermal transfer method using an ink ribbon, the method of printing on the recording paper 4 is an ink jet method having a plurality of ink nozzles, and a daisy method having a type font. A wheel method, a wire dot method in which an ink ribbon is transferred by a wire, a color inkjet method having a plurality of ink jet heads of different colors, and a wire dot method of a thermal transfer method using ink ribbons of different colors are optional.

When printing for one line is completed in this manner, the platen roller 8, the print head 10, and the ink ribbon 9 are separated from each other with a slight gap so that the paper can be fed smoothly. Then, the paper is moved to a position where the paper can be fed in the row direction by the paper feed roller 6 in the row direction. Alternatively, if the printing is stopped at a position where paper feeding is possible at the end of printing, only the platen roller 8, the print head 10, and the ink ribbon 9 are separated. Then, the recording paper 4 is sandwiched by the paper feed rollers 6 in the row direction to prepare for the next paper feed. Thereafter, the paper feed roller 7 in the girder direction is also separated from the paper feed roller 7 with a small gap so that the paper can be fed smoothly, similarly to the platen roller. Then, as shown in FIG. 1E, the recording paper 4 is fed by the paper feed roller in the row direction by an amount necessary for printing the next row.

Then, when the recording paper 4 is fed to the printing position of the next line, the pair of digit-wise paper feed rollers 7 sandwich the recording paper 4. Thereafter, the paper feed roller 6 in the row direction leaves with a slight gap so that the recording paper 4 can move smoothly in the column direction without resistance.

In the same manner, printing is performed for the required number of lines by repeating the above operation.

The number of paper feed rollers in the row direction, the number of paper feed rollers in the girder direction, and materials such as rubber and file are arbitrary.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the printer of the present invention, it is possible to print on paper of any size without depending on the size of the printer main body, and it is possible to reduce the size of the printer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1 (a), 1 (b), 1 (c), 1 (d) and 1 (e) are perspective external views for explaining the operation of the printer according to the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a printer mechanism for implementing the method of the present invention. 3 (a) and 3 (b) are perspective external views for explaining the operation of the prior art. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer main body 2 ... Print head unit 3 ... Paper guide guide 4 ... Recording paper 5 ... Paper insertion slot 6 ... Row direction paper feed roller 7 ... Column direction paper feed roller 8 ... Platen roller 9 Ink ribbon 10 Print head 11 Photo sensor for paper detection

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printer main body, a print head fixedly installed at a specific position of the printer main body, a first moving means for moving a recording paper in a row direction, and a second moving means for moving a recording paper in a print digit direction.
A paper feeding mechanism that drives one or the other to move the recording paper, a conveyance path for the recording paper that is moved by the paper feeding mechanism, and both sides in the print digit direction. Is opened and connected to the conveyance path, and provided with a guide section for rotating the leading end of the recording paper inserted from the conveyance path by the first moving means substantially one turn, so that the recording paper can be supported in a cylindrical shape. Characterized by having a simple space.